


Half-Twins and Great Aunts

by BeaRyan



Series: Writing warm ups [5]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Cultural Differences, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Grief/Mourning, azgeda customs, girls night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 22:08:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15895092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeaRyan/pseuds/BeaRyan
Summary: Echo, Emori, and Raven decide to have one more girls night to honor their lost sister.  Echo gets too drunk and tries to talk her sisters into the Azgeda tradition of half-twins to honor the dead. Bellamy is called in to help talk her down.Dark comedy and fluffy angst. Becho fic. Spacekru!Bellamy respects and attempts to understand and work with cultural differences in a way that Brother!Bellamy didn't in season five.





	Half-Twins and Great Aunts

The volume of their laughter shouldn't surprise Bellamy, but it's louder than usual. The sound makes its way from behind the closed door 20 feet down the hall to where he sits beside a window reading a book by the light of two suns. Echo, Emori, and Raven went into a bedroom over an hour ago with far more well aged algae-based alcohol than they could drink and a vow to celebrate Harper's life. They'd probably drink a few toasts to Monty, too, but this is girl's night. It's for braiding hair and giggling and talking about sex.

The morning after girl's night goes one of two ways: awkward or adventurous. Sometimes Raven can't look him in the eye. Sometimes Echo comes to bed in the early morning hours with a grin and a new idea. Laughter while they're all still together is a warning sign, but whether for good or bad he can't say.

The door cracks opens and Raven's dark head appears with more hair falling out of her ponytail than usual. "Come calm your woman." 

"Sounded happy in there." 

"Emori and I tried to laugh it off, but she won't let the half-twins thing go." 

"She's back on half-twins?" It had been almost two years since the first (and last) time Echo had mentioned it. Of all the Azgeda customs designed to bind a person to the clan, that one had surprised him the most. Especially when she hadn't just been OK with the idea, she'd encouraged it. 

Emori appears behind Raven and lets the doorframe do most of the work of keeping her upright. She laughs then says, "John won't be interested, but I'm fine with it. Not now. Not in the required one year, but I understand wanting it to be impossible for people to leave you." 

Bellamy looks to Raven, "One year?" 

"Grounders." Her shrug carries as much of the meaning as the words. The members of Skaikru had put real effort into accepting that their way wasn't the only way, but Emori and Echo had had to leave more of their old ways behind for Spacekru to become a family. 

He looks past the women he loves like sisters and into the dimly lit room where Echo sits crosslegged on the floor. Whatever she needs he'll give her before she even has to ask for it, but in his mind her desire for half twins is more like a child's Christmas wish for explosives. She might think it would be nice to have, but in the cold light of everyday life it's not a great idea, at least not with the personalities and cultures she has in the mix. 

Maybe if her sisters were from Azgeda, too. 

Maybe if he was. 

Startling her is never a good idea, so he calls her name before entering the room, and when she turns to face him her face is tearstained. 

She never whines, rarely complains, but he can tell she's heartbroken when she speaks. "They won't honor Harper and Monty." 

"Talk to me." Echo will stuff down her feelings soon enough. Better to try to understand her while she was drunk enough to admit she was hurting. 

"Our clan has lost two. For honor and strength we must add two. I'm willing but Raven and Emori say not now and for me to have two babies in a year... it's difficult." 

"So you want Raven and Emori to have babies, too? Now?" 

"For Spacekru. For our family. We must rebuild in a year." She tries to stand but she's as drunk as he's ever seen her and falls back down. "You must Bellamy."

He can see the rough outline of the Azgeda logic. Replacement warriors. Put a one year time limit on it and get em while the obligation still feels fresh. "Why me and not Murphy?" 

"Murphy is too moody. If I die or if my sister dies I want to know her child or mine will be well loved. Cared for. Safe. Always." 

He sits down beside her and pulls her against him. "Raven has pretty good judgement. If she decides to have a kid she'll pick a good father." 

"You would be a good father. I would be a good second mother and so would she. We've all already lived together. Our family would be strong. Our children safe and loved." 

The pattern is starting to emerge, but before assuming anything about Azgeda it's good to check. "Is making sure they're safe and loved the point of using the same guy as your sister to father your kids?" 

"Half-twins are bonded. The same age. The same kin. Even if all their adults die they have each other. They're never alone. They have a bigger family from the start. It's safer."

The ache in her voice moves through him like a physical pain. His relationship with Octavia is chaotic and too close, but Echo has spent her life too alone and rarely safe. They've all healed some during their time of the Ring, but the loss of Monty and Harper has opened old wounds. Reminders of who they are now might help. 

He says, "Spacekru needs to pull from Azgeda traditions and Ark traditions and come up with something that will work for all of us. Old Earth had godparents and blood brothers. Same extended family idea as half twins. We'll figure it out." 

"What is blood brothers?" 

"Two kids decide they're family then they cut themselves and mix the blood." 

She wipes at her eyes and looks up at him with a bit of hope. Blood means something in Azgeda. "What about the parents? The parents accept their duty for the new child?" 

"That's the godparents part. It's two separate things, but we can make up whatever we need for Spacekru. Grounders have flamekeepers and seconds. There's no reason we can't give our kids just as much backup." 

Echo protests, "A red blooded child can't have a flamekeeper."

"She can have aunties and uncles. Heck, all our kids would have doubles since your sisters are my sisters." The idea dawns, and it's so simple he can't believe it's taken this long to come to him. Time to bring in back up. He gives Echo a reassuring squeeze before rising and crossing to the door. Fortunately Emori and Raven haven't gone far, and he's able to call them back into the room with just a wave. 

He closes the door behind them and Emori doubles over with laughter. "So it's on then? All for one and one for all?" 

"Not quite. Just want to confirm that when Echo and I have kids you two will fulfill your obligations as aunts."

Echo interrupts, "Double aunts." 

"Heck yeah," Raven confirms. "I will be a great aunt." 

Echo smiles. "They will be Great Aunts to our children." 

Raven shakes her head. "That's not what that means." 

Bellamy says, "It is now. Spacekru is making the word our own. Great Aunts are aunts with obligations. We die and you take over raising our kids." 

Echo interrupts, her words still slightly slurred by the alcohol, "Or when we are away for battle. If we must go to war the children can stay safe with the technology and the two of you." 

Raven and Emori both look to each other. Babysitting and computers don't go well together, and a promise to Echo isn't something to be taken lightly. 

Echo throws her hopes into the silence with tears creeping down her face even as a smile works its way to her lips. "And I will teach your children to be strong. How to fight and when not to. How to survive when all that you know is lost. Like you, they will be my kin and clan." 

Emori drops to the floor and throws her arms around Echo. "You are my kin and clan. Your children will be, too." A tear slips down Emori's cheek, and Echo wipes it away.

Raven looks to Bellamy. "If you two want to have a kid, we'll back you up. Of course we will. I'm great, so, yeah, I'll be a Great Aunt. I don't know any other way to do it." 

She sits down with Echo and Emori and joins the hug, and Bellamy finally exhales. Their family is going to be ok. It will never be the same without Monty and Harper, but it's not broken. 

Raven looks up at him. "I've got her. Girls night is back on track. Go rest. You've got babymaking to do when she sobers up." 

"Maybe to honor Monty we don't start the babymaking until we've settled on the planet and got a farm going." As he makes his way down the hall and back to his book, what he's just said settles over him. He waits for the panic, but it doesn't come. A baby in a year or two would be a good addition to their family. Loved and safe. Always. Spacekru takes care of their own.


End file.
